We are a group of civil society activists and researchers who are concerned about public transportation in Hyderabad. We want a mass rapid transit system that includes the buses, trains (MMTS/Metro), sidewalks and cycle paths. But the proposed elevated metro will not meet these objectives.

Saturday, December 1, 2012

HYDERABAD:
Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) that is coming up as a mass rapid transit system to
ease the city's traffic congestion would be the slowest in the country thanks
to the ill-design of the project, contended petitioners who moved the high
court againstHyderabad Metro
Rail Limited(HMRL). They charged HMRL with changing the
originally designed alignment illegally.
Talking about the sharp curves of the alignment at eight locations in the
stretch between Ameerpet and Jubilee Hills checkpost, the Greenlands Ameerpet
Madhuranagar Yousufguda Srikrishna Nagar Joint Action Committee (GAMYS-JAC),
which is fighting the legal battle for the traders of the area, argued before
the court on Thursday that the defective design would pose a serious threat to
passenger safety. While railway safety rules prescribe a minimum 120 metre
radius of curvature for alignment of a metro train, the curves designed at the
marked locations, including Greenlands, Ameerpet crossroads and Sarathi Studios
are less than 60 metres.

"In order to maintain an average speed, the alignment must have wide
curves wherever the train bends. As per norms, the radius of curvature must be
more than 120 metres. If it is less than that, the speed must be reduced to
avoid the risk of the train getting derailed," said professor M N Srihari,
advisor toKarnataka
governmenton Bangalore
Metro Rail. As per standards, the average
operational speed of a metro train is 80 km/hr, but with sharp curves, the
average speed of a train has to be reduced to 25 km/hr, the domain experts
said. However, the very idea of mass rapid transit system would be defeated
with the slower movement, they said.

"Unlike Bangalore Metro, HMRL has still time to rectify the errors as
construction work had just started. The radius of curvature can still be
increased. If they don't do it, CRS may deny permission or insist on reducing
the speed. Going by the calculations, the average operational speed of a
Hyderabad Metro train cannot be more than 25 km/hr which means it would be the
slowest in the country," said Srihari.
But, it is not going to be easy for HMRL to rectify the loopholes because
increasing the radius of curvature means acquisition of more land and
demolition of more buildings. While L&T authorities, concessionaire of HMR
project, declined to comment, a spokesperson of HMRL refused to do so because
the issue is in court.